Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to appliances, typically residing within or around a kitchen or bar, which are used to rapidly condition, heat, or cool a beverage or food container and its contents; for example, a wine bottle, soda can, frozen drink mix cylinder, or infuser.
Description of Relevant Prior Art
The practice of heating or cooling food and beverage containers to bring their contents to a desired temperature is well known. Container-specific devices have been proposed in an effort to increase the efficiency with which the container, and its contents, may be heated or cooled.
One such device is depicted in U.S. Pat. No. 7,370,492 entitled “Chiller.” Depicted there is a wine bottle cooling device that utilizes an insulated reservoir, a “cooling ring” insert, and an impellor that directs a fluid between the reservoir's walls and the “cooling ring” and around the wine bottle. The device relies on the “cooling ring” insert, and its series of “freezer bricks” to chill the fluid that is directed within the reservoir and around the cooling ring to, ultimately, cool the wine bottle.
Another device is depicted in U.S. Pat. No. 7,174,723 entitled “Portable Liquid Cooler.” Depicted there is a container cooling device that utilizes a sandwich of rotating solid heat sinks to draw heat energy away from the container as the heat sinks are rotated about the container's outside surface.
The practice of directly heating or cooling a liquid stored within an open container is also well known. One such device accomplishing this task is depicted in U.S. Pat. No. 5,235,823 entitled “Cooling Device.” Depicted there is essentially an immersible heat sink in the form of a sealed volume of “freezeable” material. The device is first frozen and, when ready to be utilized, is simply immersed into a container of liquid desired to be cooled (e.g., water in a pitcher). The device's shape is designed to maximize heat transfer from the liquid to the device with its distil, immersed end have a larger surface area than the proximal tapering end.
Another device is depicted in U.S. Pat. No. 4,843,836 entitled “Beverage Chiller and Method Therefore.” Depicted there is another immersed heat sink-type cooling device that, instead of being a sealed volume of freezeable material, is a cylinder open at one end that can at once be (i) immersed into a container in which liquid desired to be cooled resides and (ii) filled with ice such that the cylinder becomes the heat sink and draws heat from the liquid and into the ice. The device also incorporates a handle and clip by which the device can be handled and secured to the vessel containing the liquid volume.
The practice of infusing a liquid with tea, coffee, or other particulate is also well known. One such device accomplishing this task is depicted in U.S. Pat. No. D272308 entitled “Tea Infuser.” Depicted there is a cylindrical chamber with perforated floor. A “flip-top” lid is also provided. The user presumably would place loose tea within the cylindrical chamber and close the lid. The cylindrical chamber could then be immersed into a liquid, the liquid rising up into the cylindrical chamber through the perforations in the chamber's bottom, exposing the loose tea containing within the chamber to the fluid. This device and type of infusion it necessitates is not only passive, but the oils and other flavor compounds lighter than water and within the tea leached therefrom by the fluid would be trapped within the chamber and, once the device is removed from the liquid, would remain on the loose tea particulate as the water recedes out from the perforations.
Another device is depicted in U.S. Pat. No. 6,684,756 entitled “Tea Infuser with Manual Agitator.” Depicted there is a device not unlike a cocktail shaker. The device, into which loose tea is place, has walls with a series of perforations. Additionally, the device integrates a plunger-type stirring implement attached to the device's top that, when the top is placed onto the device, acts within the device's interior by is actuated from outside of the device via a spindle. When used, the device is filled with loose tea, the top placed onto the device, the device is immersed in a fluid, and the user manually agitates the loose tea via the device's plunger implement. While this type of infusion is more active than, say, that occurring with the use of the aforementioned “Tea Infuser,” the amount of agitation is limited with that which the user can manually provide and the physical travel of the plunger within the device.
The litany of prior art devices designed to condition a container, or liquid therein, are only partially successful inasmuch as they are limited to only heating or cooling particular types of containers, require laborious operation (e.g., repeated refilling of loose ice cubes), or inefficiently use passive thermal management. Similarly, existing infusing devices restrict the fluid mechanics necessary for efficient infusion of tea or particulate matter into a surrounding fluid or require undesirable manual actuation.